>> governor romney decided instead of changing his plan he just pretended it didn't exist. what $5 trillion tax cut? i don't know anything about a $5 trillion tax cut. pay no attention to that tax cut under the carpet. >> romney's campaign continuing a blitz of ohio today denying that he's a new moderate but here is what he told the des moines register yesterday. when asked about his agenda on abortion. >> there's no legislation regarding -- with regards to abortion i'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda. >> joining me now, "usa today's" washington bureau chief susan page and "time" assistant managing editor. good morning, both of. >> did you good morning. >> susan, romney's statement appeared to be away from the democrats tried use against them and campaign quickly issued a statement saying mitt romney is pro-life. what is going on with the romney message? >> well, i think romney is -- governor romney is definitely trying to pivot to the middle.

we were waiting to do this last spring and early summer when he clinched the republican nomination. he's doing it now kind of on the late side. it is the same sort of more centrist message that we heard in the debate last week. >> clearly, this is sort of across the board campaign theme that the democrats pushing. listen to bill clinton in vegas. >> i had a different reaction to that first debate than a lot of people did. i mean, i thought -- i thought -- wow. here's old moderate mitt. where you been, boy? i missed you the last two years. now the problem with this deal is the deal was made by severe conservative mitt. that was how he described himself for two whole years. until three, four days before the debate they all got together and said hey, man, this ship is

sinking faster than the titanic. >> he did run it in the primary, mitt romney, calling himself severely conservative. is there risk in this strategy? what is behind it? what's the thinking? >> i think that there -- they sense a narrowing in the poll. there have been a narrowing of the polls since the debate. i think that the opportunity is in the mid tool grab those swing voters and -- i -- i think that what the president needs to do now is to really hone in on the poor message of taxes but also job growth. i think we haven't heard enough yet about how great the members were last week. -- numbers were last week. i would have liked to heard more about the 7.8% about the unemployment number which was an improve many over big bird. >> the obama campaign is making adjustments. "the wall street journal" says obama is test driving a new tone. sharper on the sometime and plans to be more aggression enough the next debate. what are you hearing? >> i think he could not be less aggressive than he was in the last debate. we are seeing a sharper tone against mitt romney.

basically calling him a liar. pushing back against the message he does not really have a $5 trillion -- in a way that president obama failed to do in the debate. and -- his own supporters, own democratic core supporters, by taking more credit for times getting better. i think, you know, that's in part reference to those better job numbers last friday. taking somewhat more optimistic tone than the one he tab taking the last few months. >> your point that you would like to hear him talk more, for example about the 7.8% job number that was much better than people expected. this morning, the senior sizor to the romney campaign, robert gibbs, was asked about the campaign's big bird advertisement. whether, frankly a sign of a desperate campaign. here is what he had to say. >> you know, mitt romney took to the debate and said i'm going to get tough by ending downton abbey and going to war with

sesame street when he lets wall street off the hook and hold -- not hold them accountable as we go forward in financial reform. look, we can't have a president that does that. >> does he have a point? does the president have a point? or does it seem somewhat consequential of the jobs numbers? >> i laugh at the big bird ad. no question it was funny. it does not have a lot to do with most americans' lives and problems now. i think it is just inconsequential in that sense. what is great is the president does have a strong message to deliver. low taxes and tax cuts have not created job growth since 1908s. have not. let's get that message across and talk about investment and education. not focusing on pbs so much but early childhood education. things we need on do now to really get growth going. strong message there. >> let me bring in congressman john yarmoth, democrat from kentucky. good to see you this morning. >> good morning. >> four years ago president obama said if you don't have a record to run on, you make a big

election about small things. is that what he is doing with big bird? >> you know, i think one of the most important points about big bird, it relates to the wall street comment. if you really are going to make a dent in deficit reduction you don't pick on things like big bird. you pick on big things like tax cuts for multimillionaires. and -- so -- no, i don't think it is an irrelevant point but i agree we ought to be talking about what the next four years will bring because it looks like romney administration would just be one big surprise party. we have no idea what that is going to be like. so -- but i think the president and the vice president really do need to give the american people a clear sense of where they want to go. >> well, let's talk about that reset because, obviously the president did take a hit in the debate. and there have been a lot of headlines about worried democrats. do you think he needed to make the adjustments? we are hearing about it in his campaign. if he needs to do more, congressman, what is it? >> well, again, you know, i don't think the american people are really interested in who wins the fight between

candidates. i think they want inform know what president obama is really willing to fight for. and he's talked time and time again about that -- necessity to invest in education and research and development and infrastructure. he has a jobs act program which is really a comprehensive program that embraces many ideas including many republican ideas. he needs to show that he is willing to fight for that. and -- not worry about whether john boehner or mitch mcconnell will get in line with them. he needs to take that fight to the american people and prove to them that he -- that's what he will do over the next four years. >> i'm sure you know there are a bunch of new polls in the national polls which all say a little different things but basically what the gallup people say, they are adjust -- extremely tight race. and there's new polls on the swing states. look what's going on in ohio. the president's lead shrinking to only four points, in new hampshire, the president's lead went from 15 points to 6 points. is this a new race? are you one of those worried

democrats? >> well, you know, i -- i would have liked to have seen hit the week where we were last week. no doubt about that. but again, i think clearly governor romney got a bounce out of last week's debate. i think what will sharpen the focus of the american people tomorrow night, we will see joe biden talk about the devastating dimensions of the rather/ryan budget proposals. and i think that over the next debate presidential debate when we talk about foreign policy, the american people will get a much clearer view of who they want leading this country and international affairs. it is not mitt romney who has no clue what's going on around the world. yeah, i'm worried. i'm anxious now. i think things will get better. >> a little bit anxious or maybe a little more than that? >> just a little bit anxious. i think it is much too early to panic. >> well, let me ask you about something because you are on the budget committee and i want to go back to the vice presidential debate. there is a report in "the new york times" this morning about the so-called fiscal cliff that -- it may actually be more slow, economists say that the effect of the tax cuts inspiring

would be a powerful but gradual and in some cases reversible problem. are you prepared to go to that cliff? where are you now? where do you think he will be january 1? >> my guess is that -- the odds strongly favor the candidate being kicked into next year. i don't think we can come up with any grand bargaining between the election and new year's. obviously depending on the election results things could change bunt, you know, i think that's probably right. i think that there's -- we are overdramatizing the possibilities. i don't think either side wants to see across the board devastating cuts the sequester would demand and i don't think neither one of us wants to raise taxes on at least 98% of the american people. i think we will come to an agreement. if it goes six months i don't think that would have a disastrous effect on the economy as long as we look like we are making progress and reaching some kind of an agreement. >> well, given the players tomorrow, i'm -- assuming we are

going to hear quite a bit about taxes and other financial issues. let me just get your overall take since it is in your state, beautiful place, danville, kentucky? if the pressure really -- is it on, joe biden, because of the first presidential debate? >> well, you know, i don't think anybody -- anywhere can talk about the implications of the economy on hard working families better than joe biden can. that's his natural -- that's his natural style. i don't think the pressure is on him. i think the pressure is going to being on paul ryan and -- either walking away from his budget proposals, denying he ever made them or -- in saying that in standing for him. we want to -- american peel want to standup people. so far the romney and ryan people have not been willing to stand up for the things that they have been espousing a long time. i think there's more pressure on paul ryan than vice president ryan. >> we will be watching your state tomorrow. thanks so much for coming on the program. >> thank you. >> let me bring susan back. you tweeted earlier today the vp debates usually don't matter.

but is this one different? >> i think it is a little different. do i. you know, traditionally we pay a lot of attention to the debates. lloyd bentsen putting down dan quayle and became inaugurated as vice president that january. it was dan quayle. this time maybe a little different because this election so close. so newly close. because we have got what i have been calling momentum politics, momentum is on the republican side. can joe biden turn that around in the debate and set a better stage for the second presidential debate that we have next week in new york? >> momentum is so important. i think that -- you know, besides the fact you have two debaters who are both really pretty substantive guys, i mean, you know, you have one who has been the voice of the budget for the republican party and obviously joe biden for all his years of experience in congress. and as vice president. you add into that their own personal prospects for 2016.

give us your take on the vice presidential debate. >> i think that it is going to be really substantive and think it will matter more than they have in the past and i think biden actually has a real chance here to make a difference in par because foreign policy is certainly going to be on the agenda and that's something he's very strong on as has been pointed out. also, he has an opportunity to draw back to the idea that many of the republican stance's on social issues are extreme. and ryan exempt reply pies those. if he can hit those points and appeal to that middle class voter that knows the tax cuts have not worked for them, i think he can win a few points. >> lot more people may be watching this vice presidential debate than we have seen in the past. it is great to see both of you. thank you. >> thanks. the state department now says that the u.s. consulate in benghazi was under an atault by heavily armed militants the night chris steve sense and three other americans were killed and not a spontaneous protest overing a video. the attackers sprayed diesel fuel that set the building on

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voter registration is closed in 16 states. democrats have the edge in four of six battleground states. take a look at the preliminary figures. more democrats registered to vote in florida, iowa, nevada, and north carolina. republicans hold the advantage in colorado and new hampshire. now, it is worth noting that the number of people registering as independents grew by more than 750,000 in those states. so that's more than republicans

or democrats. that's just step one. now the intense focus is to get voters to the polls. i'm join good to see you. good morning. >> thanks. >> you wrote about the obama campaign's secret for getting voters to the polls and you talk about voter pledge cards. we have one that we are going to put up on the screen and you say this has been an effective strategy. explain why this seems to work. >> yeah. these are cards that the campaign gets voters to sign. saying that they commit to vote. and we have seen through experiments, through randomized trials, basically drug trials, where instead of randomly assigning voters drugs and placebos, they are giving them some voters pledge cards and other ones not. turns out that you can see that it has an impact on getting people to vote. we are learning from behavioral psychology as it is being translate flood elections is that the sort of mechanisms are

most successful at hoeb mobilizing voters, not have to do with the particular candidates or issues of the parties or stakes in the election but have to deal with the sort of social dynamics around voting. what we learned is voters want to keep their word. they want to be seen as the type of person that follows through on an action they committed to. >> it is fascinateding to me because you say now getting an enforcing promises is probably the most ubiquitous tool in the arsenal. what i found equally fascinating is that the obama campaign isn't just looking for pledges from infrequent voters. right? >> yeah. one of the things you can do with -- i mean, i think most useful we have seen is getting people not regular voters and not used to the habit of voting. to change their behavior and vote. but it is also a very good way pain to engage people who are already going to vote. but because it gives them something to ask for. and so if you are out canvassing and they say they are voting for president obama, they are a likely voter, you can ask them to do something, at the same time you are getting more data

back from them. at the least they are updating their address for you and -- it is a good way of for campaigns to keep their lists current. >> there was another fascinating tactic you wrote about. i might call it an intimidation tactic but it involved a michigan direct mail consultant and he sent people voting's history. not just theirs but their neighbors. tell us what happened and how does this work into voter psychology? >> this is the most successful tool we have seen in turning nonvote nears voters. he sent letters that said dear chris, your history as a voter, publicly available document on file with the county board of elections. here are the elections you voted in. it had -- you voted in the gubernatorial primary, did not vote in if city council election, you did vote in the presidential election. here are vote histories for other people on your block. it had people who live near you. and then there came a threat. another election coming up. afterwards we will send everybody an updated set. this increased turnout among people received it by 20%. it also got the guy that sent death threats.

both of those facts sort of convinced people this idea of social pressure, behavioral psychologists call it, was potent in politics. that -- citizens want to fit in with when they see their neighbors doing and want to live up to see as sort of standards of responsible citizenship. and using some version of the social pressure is -- going to be widespread in november. >> yes. peer pressure seems to never go away. i also want to ask you about young voters. i spent a lot of time on campaign trails, college campuses. we have seen rock the vote which has been out there for many, many presidential campaigns now. but traditionally, young voters are not the most reliable voters. i'm wondering if the way that the campaign is approaching them is different than you would, say, a 50-year-old or 60-year-old, what seems to work for young voters who were so important to barack obama in 2008? >> yeah. lot of the psychological interventions are designed to get people not used to voting to go out and do something that they are not necessarily comfortable with or familiar with. so dash you know, obviously nobody wants to send out letters

that sort of threaten to -- out or shame nonvoters. but through more experiments over the years, campaigns have settled along language widespread from the obama campaign where it says something like i have seen from public record you voted in 2008 i want to thank you for taking the time to be a voter. there is another election coming up. i hope that i can once again thank you for your good citizenship. this is a soft edged version of the tool. but there is a certain literature and psychology if you talk to a young voter, somebody that doesn't necessarily vote regularly but you address them as a voter, you make them think of themselves type of person who votes, that they will actually follow through on the action. >> positive reinforcement. what do you expect to see in these last closing days? we have 27 days, we all know that in a -- in every election, it is all about the turnout. especially in a close election, what's going to be happening? >> yeah. i think we talk a lot -- about how the campaigns are trying to change people's opinions. and obviously a lot of the conversation around the debates

is about -- that, do voters change their support for one candidate or the other. most of the energy of campaigns is going to be about motivating voters. not about changing their opinions, modifying their behavior. best tools we found are things coming from behavioral psychology and being applied to voting. >> your articles, your books, some of the most fascinating stuff we have seen in are a long time. thanks so much for coming on the program. >> thanks for having me. the supreme court is going to hear its first big case of the term on affirmative action. a white woman rejected from the you don't know of texas at austin in 2008 sued. now the court will decide if using race in the admissions process is constitutional. now, the court already took up this issue back in 2003 and they rejected the use of racial quotas but they also said race can be used as part of a wholistic view. it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet.

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positive politics. pictures of a noticeably thinner palin surfaced online. the 48-year-old told "people" magazine she is feeling fine and, quote, our family is writing a book on fitness and self-discipline. focusing on where we get our energy and balance as we still eat our beloved homemade comfort foods. speaking of comfort food, ann romney cooking up a family recipe. there was a small problem this morning. it happened to all of us. her cakes burned. >> i have a cooking emergency. the grill is too hot. i'm here. i'm -- i'm making cakes. my grandmother taught me how to make them. i'm teaching my grandchildren how to make them. >> they look good. the politics of "sesame street." >> sunny day outside. ♪ sunny day

>> he played a little music for the crowd before president paem spoke at ohio staw -- romney sp >> can you tell me about -- the president, the musical? >> oh, musical. >> into the world of politics sesame street style. the details in my interview coming up at 10:50 eastern time. if you read only one thing this morning, holidays are coming up. millions will be traveling. "the new york times" has a really terrific article on the best travel websites for the frugal traveler. if you have anything to add, please do. it is up on our facebook page. i have a cold... i took dayquil,

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knocking on doors, making phone calls. getting people to the polls. in ohio ohio campaign says, for example, it is about to open its 120th field office. that compares to 35 ohio offices for romney. but the romney campaign bolstered by the debate is now invading obama territory. they are campaigning in counties where president obama won by double digits in 2008. here to talk about the ground game strategy is msnbc political analyst and former dnc communications director karen finney. republican strategist and former huckabee campaign manager chip saltzman. >> good morning. >> mitt romney's political director says they are now playing on the obama side of the 50 yard line. is had a a smart strategy? >> yeah, i think it is. simply because if you can take counties where he won by 12%, 13%, knock that down to 8%, that's a big win for mitt romney. and he's going to try to use the momentum he has from the debates to kind of push the envelope on this. as we know the last 30 days, it is all about momentum, where the

enthusiasm is at, excitement is at. we have with mitt romney. >> karen, he does make a point. barack obama has this big advantage in field offices. not just in ohio but in a lot of swing states. check mark on that. but there is this enthusiasm question. you can remind people, you can con joel and you can suggest. but there does seem to be this fundamental question. do you think romney's people believe that significant numbers of voters are giving himming a second look? >> i think they believe it but i also think that they recognize the opportunity what chip said is right. they have momentum coming out of the debate. you know, regardless of whether or not they can actually take some of those counties we are talking about by showing that they are trying to play in those counties, that kind of folds into the narrative that hey, they have some momentum and they are trying. there is a little bit of a -- you know, p.r. front going on there as well to try to give the appearance of more momentum, to make people take a second look to try to see if can you generate more enthusiasm.

i think the advantage that team obama has, though, is it is not just the number of field offices but the amount of time that they have been there. they know who their voters are. they know exactly which voters in the states they need to turn out. that's why, you know, focus right now is really shifting to all of those turnout models. >> yeah. chip the organization has been very impressive. unions are stepping up their ground game important the president. in ohio the afl-cio will reach out to 2 million voters. that's about double what they did in 2008. you also have registered democrats outnumbers republicans in five of the six battleground states. how does the romney campaign neutralize that? can they n. >> yeah, i think they can. as you can see, it is an enthusiasm game right now. it is, you know, what you get the base out and then you go after the independents. i think as voter registration shut down in lot of the states this week, you can really look at the excitement level and know what those targets are. and you spend the next 27 days targeting those folks.

you have to give the air cover at that time national level, ground game is so crucial and the romney campaign is doing great job in battleground states to attack each one individually. >> i understand we have a communications problem with karen. let me ask you this question on the other side. chip, the -- we know that ralph reid's faith and freedom coalition is making a big push for evangelical voters. they say that they are going to contact 17 million voters who either didn't vote or weren't registered to vote in 2008. that's huge. that's ambitious. but given that mitt romney is moderating a lot of his stances and controversy just in the last 24 hours about something he said to the des moines register about abortion, is that an uphill climb? >> i think it is a challenge. what ralph reid and his group is doing is a monumental task but they started a couple years back and did better than they expected to do. what we saw in ohio in 2004 especially, john kerry got the votes he thought he needed to win the election. george bush was able to win that because he had a 4% increase in

turnout in the base. i think that's what the faith and freedom coalition is trying do. they will try to increase the turnout of the base. i think that's where they are going with that. >> how much do -- i know you missed part of the conversation but we were talking here about outside groups, unions, putting in -- millions of phone calls. ralph reid, faith and freedom coalition, saying they are going to contact 17 million people. and how important are these outside dprups when we are looking at the ground game? >> it is very important. i will give you an example. you know i sit on the national board of pro-choice america and targeted 338,000 women voters for whom choice is a key issue. they are voters that we identified in 25 counties key battleground states who, you know, not so sure if they will vote for obama but choice is the issue and can bring them back. we know if we can get those voters out that will make a difference important the president in those states. that's the kind of work a lot of these groups are doing. it is not just groups are spending money to, you know, broadly to turn out the base. there is some of that. micro targeting means you really

can identify which voters you need to get and on which issues you can get them to vote for your candidates. a lot of that as well. >> so much more sophisticated than it used to be for sure. karen, thank you. chip, thanks very much. >> yes, ma'am. also making news this morning, the 14-year-old girl in pakistan who was a symbol of resistance to the taliban's subjugation of women is in critical condition. the taliban shot her. she is in the intensive care unit. doctors removed a bull fret her neck. she was shot in the head on her school bus while terrified classmates watched in horror. yesterday the taliban says that she won't be spared if she survives. her family is also being threatened. she had a blog promoting girls' education. this morning a pentagon official confirm it is united states military sent about 150 members to jordan to help with refugees arriving from syria. he said the team will help jordanians with logistics and

planning worth thousands of refugees at that time border. it has been five days since 10-year-old jessica ridgeway went missing on her way to school in colorado. police released this home video to help the public recognize her. sunday her backpack was found six miles away from home. police are now extend tharg er is -- extending their search. jerry sandusky will be moved to a state prison in pennsylvania next week to start serving between 30 and 60 years. he was sentenced yesterday for sexually abusing ten boys. in prison he will be allowed to keep his watch and wedding band but that's practically it. he will be able to watch penn state football but not violent movies. he will also undergo psychiatric evaluation once he is moved. the nationwide meningitis outbreak has now claimed 11 lives and 12th death is being investigated. at least 119 people have gotten sick after getting contaminated steroid shots that were shipped from a massachusetts pharmacy.

lawmakers are calling for tighter regulation of compounding companies. toyota is announcing the biggest auto recall in 16 years. cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. more than 7 million vehicles affected. >> that's a global recall, chris. you know, it is voluntary. it includes lots of models, for example carolla models. all due to malfunctioning power window switches. as you mentioned, it is global. toyota is going to recall 2.47 million models in the united states which will make it the biggest single recall since ford called back 7.9 million vehicles globally in 1996. now this comes as well as like adding insult to injury bus it is just a day after toyota came out with its sales and fell 49% year over year in china for the month of september partly due to big backlash against japanese brands in china.

a dispute between the two countries. adding insult to injury. >> there is another safety concern for drivers. counterfeit air bags. >> yes. go figure. government warned yesterday that the air bags that have been replaced in the past three years may have had dangerous counterfeit bags installed. keep in mind only 0.1% of u.s. vehicles are believed to have been affected. you know, that's still tens of thousands of car owners that may be driving around with faulty bags. they don't inflate or fail to inflate properly. there was one amazing case where a counterfeit bag fired shards of metal shrapnel on impact. what do you do if you are concerned? we can check tout government website. safecar.gov to learn whether or not your vehicle model is among those affected. no injuries tide to these bags. government investigators believe many of these bags have come from china. >> mandy drury, thank you. neiman marcus is out with its annual holiday catalog and

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to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. yes, you do! don't! do! whoa, kitchen counselor here. see cascade complete pacs work like micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges. hmm! cascade. love it or your money back. we talked about the ground game but there are new numbers out on the virtual ground game and really interesting. richard lui is here with a look at the social media strategy turning clicks into votes. >> social media and ground game outcomes can be very different. for instance, contrary to pundits and polls, the debate

winner was not mitt romney according to millions of social media posts. an analysis shows after days of fact checking and counter arguments made by politico's you see this. president obama winning on substance. pew also found the same. also for you, head-to-head comparison, romney still leads by five percentage points in positive sentiment. sentiment being a measure of the words and phrases used. not the quantity of posts. now the only blip in that graph you see there was sunday when the big bird and elmo criticism from the obama campaign reached a crescendo. when it comes to the built-in base of followers and facebook friends and likes, the president has over 20 million followers and that's 16 times more than mitt romney. facebook likes, obama has 30 million and romney's a little closer, almost 9 million for him. and each of these facebook likes could be worth thousands of

votes. research from u.c. san diego found onefies book message increased voter turnout by up to 340,000 votes in the 2010 election. that study looked over 60 million people. and interesting tidbit from that study messages without a picture made no difference of influencing a friend to vote. it had to have a person's face. of the average of 150 friends of facebook user has, it was only the closest ten that were impacted -- that impacted the most to vote. which shows, chris, that there are some similarities with what works on the ground and on social media. >> all right. thank you very much. there's a huge change in mitt romney's strategy. nearly a third of his stump speech now devoted to telling personal stories. yesterday he revealed he once met a victim from the benghazi attacks. navy s.e.a.l. glen doherty. >> you can imagine how i felt when i found out he was one of the two former navy s.e.a.l.s

killed september 11. >> i'm joined by politico's national political reporter james holman. good morning. >> good morning. >> you have written about this self-humanizing change in strategy. what's behind the shift? >> romney has discovered after running for president for six years that he can't rely on ann and his five sons and their friends to talk about how human he is, how big a heart he has. he has to do it himself. or a month out from the election, and the polls show serious problem for romney with likability. especially with women. if you ask what you think of mitt romney as a person, women say they don't like him favorably. the goal is to make him seem like a regular guy, that has emotions and has friends and has gone through ups and downs. >> we should say the campaign denied reports that romney's wife, ann, and their eldest son, tag, are behind this shift.

they pushed it. basically arguing being who you are, but how significant has their influence been? >> it has been hugely significant. we completely stand by that story. definitely there has been a push for romney to really improve his likability and you saw it before the debate. that's one of the reasons he did so well in the debate is because he started to humanize some of the lines he has been using that sound so technocratic on the stump. and it change it is whole dynamic when he is talking to the crowds. you heard in the brief clip you played, the crowd deflate after he told the story. and that's what happens. he's introduced three other stories, all three related to death, kind of depressing but also from the romney campaign's perspective, very humanizing. >> it seems to me there is another message out there. not just that romney is this nice guy. but ann romney also has suggested by saying that her husband has changed positions on the issue, the president is kind of something of a bull write.

in fact, in an interview that's air thing morning and i'm going to read this quote from her, it is like someone that's, you know, in the sandbox that like lost the game and they are just going to kick sand in someone's face and say you liar. i mean, it is like they lost and so now they are -- just going to saw okay, the game, between like the game. to me, it is poor sportsmanship. is there a risk kind of in this new strategy like -- who is the real mitt romney? >> absolutely. he's tried to do this personal touch before. back during the primaries when he was down in the polls. and he did it for a little bit. then he kind of pulled back. the other risk is that talking about a lot of the things requires him to talk about his faith. which he continues to be loathe to do. one of the three stories he's add flood the stump speech is about when he was the pastor at his church. first time he told the story he said this boy with leukemia, 13-year-old boy, had called him brother romney. the second story he said the boy

called him mitt. so he -- he's definitely cautious about getting too personal or letting people in too close. >> when it gets down to the final moments of polling, i mean -- obviously they think this is significant. the -- the sort of style versus substance. how significant do we think it is going to be? how significant does the romney camp think it is going to be n. >> they think it will help at the margins. don't think it will be a game changer by any stretch. the -- there is some risk also in -- in being too macabre. too depressing in telling these stories. romney, i watched him now on the trail retell the same humanizing stories about half a dozen times. and he's -- he's changing the way he does it. this is an evolving strategy and will see if it works and like you just said, the -- >> curious about that. how does he change -- give me an example how he changes and telling the story? does he seem to be getting more comfortable with it?

>> he changes the punch line. his timing has i am proved. he is getting a little more comfortable with it. he -- making stories a little bit shorter. overall, kind of thing you see whenever a candidate updates his standard speech he gives multiple times a dawe. >> james holman, it has been fascinating to read the reporting. thank you so much. >> thank you. today's tweet of the day is about the next presidential debate where the candidates will take questions from the audience. the huffington post sam stein writes romney doing a town hall today. has done a number of tele town halls recently. clearly preparing for a debate. don't see o. doing similar. losing weight clicked for me when i found a plan that was as active and on the go as i was. weight watchers online is absolutely that tool. it was never further away than my pocket.

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sesame street just can't escape being part of the political conversation right now. both candidates mentioned it again yesterday. >> these are tough times with real serious issues. so you have to scratch your head when the president spends the last week talking about saving

big bird. >> we can cut out pbs. for all you moms and kids out there, don't worry. somebody's finally getting tough on big bird. >> and while this political battle is raging over "sesame street, dwts show replaced the popular elmo's world with a new segment called "president the musical" starring elmo. i learned all about it from elmo himself. i'm going to ask you to tell me something that might absecret. >> what? >> can you tell me about the president, the musical? >> oh, president, the musical. elmo has so much fun. elmo has a suit. you know what? elmo doesn't live in the white house. elmo lives in the red house. i'm going to change the white house. a red house. >> is that your favorite color? >> yes, it is. >> yeah. go figure. >> tell me something else. is there a little song from

"president the musical"? can we get a preview? >> our music director is not out here. >> i know. i know you are only 3 1/2. but if you are president, do you have a first lady? >> yeah. elmo has -- three first ladies. >> three? >> yes. >> you know what they call that, don't you? bigamist. do you know that word? >> imagination. >> so you are not married? >> no, no, no. elmo wasn't married to them. >> no. >> guess what. elmo has a good friend. >> really? >> her name is velvet. you know what she is? >> what? >> elmo's curtain. >> curtain? >> like in the theater where the curtain opens and closes. goes back. yeah. that's velvet. >> okay. i should point out that that interview was done before the debate.

elmo is apolitical in spite of the fact, obviously, he's red. that wraps up this hour. i'm chris jansing. thomas roberts, don't say a word. >> come on, just one? that's the great thing about chris jansing. you can have her interview, prince, palmers and elmo. they are all great interviews. great job. good morning to you. good morning. "the agenda," the bump in the polls fading for mitt romney in advance of nbc's newest polling numbers? we examine the latest tightening of the presidential race. r is there a premature panic among president obama's supporters? we call them the a-team. responding to former president bill clinton and first lady michelle obama and vp joe biden. october 10 mar, anti-bullying. why more people are wearing orange. we will see new just a couple of minutes. l health plays a key role throughout our lives.

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good morning. topping the agenda the a-team to the rescue. former president bill clinton and first lady michelle obama and vice president joe biden are they the obama campaign not so secret weapons to get the president's re-election bid back on track? with more signs of a mitt romney surge and some democrats and full-on panic mode. bubba and the first lady launched verbal grenades on the campaign trail. take a look. >> i had a different reaction to that first debate than a lot of people did. i mean, i thought -- i thought wow? here's old moderate mitt. where have you been, boy? i missed you the past two years. >> we all know good and well cutting "sesame street" is no way to balance the budget.